ZTE pays out $892-million in US settlement

Mar 8, 2017

ZTE has entered into a global settlement with the US government regarding its historical conduct relating to US export controls and sanctions.
As part of the resolution, ZTE has agreed to a criminal and civil penalty of $892,36-million, and an additional penalty of $300-million to BIS that will be suspended during the seven-year term on the condition that the company complies with the requirements in the agreement with BIS and that ZTE will continue to work with an independent compliance monitor and auditor.
“ZTE acknowledges the mistakes it made, takes responsibility for them, and remains committed to positive change in the company,” says Dr Zhao Xianming, chairman and CEO of ZTE Corporation. “Instituting new compliance-focused procedures and making significant personnel changes has been a top priority for the company. We have learned many lessons from this experience and will continue on our path of becoming a model for export compliance and management excellence. We are committed to a new ZTE, compliant, healthy and trustworthy.”
Dr Zhao was named chairman and CEO of ZTE in April 2016 with a mandate to lead a new ZTE with a best-in-class export compliance programme.
“The agreements we reached will enable us to move forward in a stronger position than ever before,” adds Dr Zhao. “We are grateful to all of our customers, partners, employees and stakeholders who have stood by us throughout this difficult time. With this agreement behind us and our compliance program firmly established, we can confidently grow our business with suppliers, continue to provide innovative technology solutions to our partners, and execute our growth strategies as a new ZTE.”
“ZTE has made tremendous progress in building a world-class compliance programme and I look forward to working with others in the company’s leadership to further build and improve our operations and processes,” says Matt Bell, who was appointed chief export compliance officer in November 2016. “We are creating a global team of experienced compliance professionals, and our compliance trainings have been strengthened and reinforced at every level of the company.
“We are constantly reviewing and improving policies and procedures to keep up with an ever-changing regulatory landscape and working to reinforce the strategic business advantage a strong compliance program has in the marketplace. Our global legal and compliance professionals will continue to work together to identify risk across the company and continually improve the effectiveness of our overall compliance programme.”